be just

Haiti Gets a Penny of Each U.S. Aid Dollar : Information Clearing House - ICH : "January 27, 2010 -- AP-- Only 1 cent of each dollar the U.S. is spending on earthquake relief in Haiti is going in the form of cash to the Haitian government, according to an Associated Press review of relief efforts. Less than two weeks after President Obama announced an initial $100 million for Haiti earthquake relief, U.S. government spending on the disaster has tripled to $317 million at latest count. That's just over $1 each from everyone in the United States. Relief experts say it would be a mistake to send too much direct cash to the Haitian government, which is in disarray and has a history of failure and corruption. 'I really believe Americans are the most generous people who ever lived, but they want accountability,' said Timothy R. Knight, a former US AID assistant director who spent 25 years distributing disaster aid. 'In this situation they're being very delib...

Al Jazeera English - Americas - Obama 'to scrap Nasa moon plans' : "The US president is reportedly set to scrap plans to return astronauts to the moon, redirecting US space efforts in different directions with an enlarged role for the private sector in future missions. According to White House officials, Barack Obama will outline the changes in revised Nasa budget proposal to be presented to Congress on Monday. The plan will give the US space agency money to extend the life of the International Space Station (ISS) to 2020, and funds to encourage private companies to develop a space taxi to ferry astronauts to the station"

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Hamas blames Israel for Dubai death : "Hamas has claimed that one of its commanders was assassinated by Israeli agents in Dubai. A statement by the Palestinian group, which controls the Gaza Strip, alleged on Friday that Israel had killed Mahmoud Abdul Raouf al-Mabhouh. 'We hold the enemy [Israel] responsible for the assassination of the Martyr al-Mabhouh, and the enemy will not escape punishment,' a statement from the Hamas military wing, said. The Dubai government said police were hunting a group of mostly European passport holders they believe to be behind the killing, but said they had left the country."

Al Jazeera English - Europe - Blair stands by Iraq war decision : "Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, has stood by his decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003, saying he would make the same decision again. Giving evidence at a public inquiry in London on Friday, Blair said that the pre-war intelligence convinced him it was necessary to stop Saddam Hussein, the then-Iraqi president, from developing weapons of mass destruction. He told the inquiry that the perception of risk from rogue or failed states changed after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States."

YouTube - Zinn: Send a message to Obama :

YouTube - Howard Zinn's "Three Holy Wars"

The Nation: Goodbye Howard Zinn : NPR : "Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and the author of the seminal A People's History of the United States, died yesterday at the age of 87 of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California. He was in a swimming pool doing laps and was spotted immediately by lifeguards but died instantly. Zinn's brand of history put common citizens at the center of the story and inspired generations of young activists and academics to remember that change is possible. As he wrote in his autobiography, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (1994), 'From the start, my teaching was infused with my own history. I would try to be fair to other points of view, but I wanted more than 'objectivity'; I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against in...